


It's a New Life

by d2fmeasurement



Category: Silicon Valley (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-28
Updated: 2015-05-28
Packaged: 2018-04-01 14:52:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4023991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/d2fmeasurement/pseuds/d2fmeasurement
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Inspired by the prompt: It's a Wonderful Life trope, Richard gets to see what his life would have been like if he'd taken the ten million dollars in the pilot.</p><p>Note: I ended up liking the alternative timeline so I stuck with it being a real universe he can stay in, rather than a vision.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's a New Life

Richard was at the end of the line. Hooli had won the lawsuit, he was buried in legal fees and he’d never get anyone to go near his company again. He couldn’t believe all of the work and stress had left him with nothing. Worse than nothing. 

He curled up on his bed and pulled the blanket over his head. He hoped Erlich would take enough pity on him to let him just stay in bed for a day before he had to figure out what he was going to do. He closed his eyes and tried not to think about how he wished he’d just taken the money from Gavin Belson. But, of course it was all he could think of. 

He closed his eyes tightly and thought about how much he’d give to just get that do-over.

He had a strange feeling he’d never had before. He wondered if he’d unlocked some new, more profound level of anxiety that even he hadn’t experienced before. 

He opened his eyes and he was standing in Gavin Belson’s office, facing Gavin and Jared. 

“It’s Peter Gregory,” Big Head said, holding a phone out to Richard. “Not sure how he got my number...”

Richard’s eyes widened at this familiar scene. 

“I’ll give you ten million dollars for it right now,” Gavin said.

Richard quickly dropped the phone and said, “Okay. Deal.” He immediately felt bad about dropping a dead guy’s phone call, but then it occurred to him that later he could tell Peter Gregory not to go on that safari. This was perfect. He could fix everything. “Deal,” he repeated to Gavin.

“Excellent,” Gavin said, glad that had been so easy. He turned to Jared and said, “Make arrangements for Richard with our lawyers and HR.” 

“Yes, sir,” Jared said.

Richard turned to Erlich and grinned when he saw the look of excitement on his face. All he’d seen Erlich express for months was disappointment but now he was completely lit up with delight. Richard grinned at him and said, “You have a million dollars, man. Congrats.” Erlich pulled him into a big hug. Richard beamed.

“Congrats, man,” Big Head told him. Richard gave him a nod.

 

As he and Jared walked down the halls of Hooli, Jared said, “That was a...very sensible decision you made. Very sound.” Richard was too happy to pick up on the slight disappointment in Jared’s voice. “A lot of start ups fail in their first year so...”

“Yeah no shit,” Richard said. He turned to Jared and said, “I’m so fucking happy about the ten million dollars. We should celebrate tonight.” 

Jared had that adorable look of total and complete surprise at being acknowledged that Richard hadn’t seen in months. He’d forgotten that they weren’t friends in this universe. “Okay!” Jared said.

That night, Dinesh and Gilfoyle gave him a strained congratulations. They were obviously pretty jealous that Richard had succeeded before they had. He felt guilty, but reminded himself that this way he wouldn’t waste a year of their time. They were better off. 

 

“Drinks are on me,” Richard told Jared happily as he led him into a bar. 

“Thank you,” Jared said. 

Richard ordered a round. He turned to Jared and said, “Hey, so...I’m sorry. I mean, I know you’re disappointed that I didn’t turn down the money from Gavin and start my own thing.”

“Oh...I suppose...” Jared said, jarred by how perceptive Richard was.

“I know you hate working at Hooli and it would’ve been inspiring to watch someone go out and be independent.”

“Yes,” Jared said. “This is so strange. It’s like...you know me better than I know myself. I wasn’t even really aware of feeling that way...”

Richard shrugged a little and smiled at him. “I feel like we should be good friends,” he told him before chugging more of his drink. Jared beamed. Richard decided he might as well play a little with everything he knew about Jared, “We should go birdwatching some time...bro.” 

Jared squealed and said, “Okay!” Richard grinned. He liked this universe.

 

When they’d had several more drinks, Richard started feeling like he needed to justify his decision. “Listen, man,” he said. “It’s not like this is the end. Money means you can do things, you know? Like, I could fund Gilfoyle’s app, I could fund Dinesh’s app...And I’m already thinking of new ideas next...hey, maybe you could still come work for me! You know, it would be Pied Piper because I sold that...but, we could still make a company that does stuff and it’ll actually be funded. We have nine million dollars!”

“We?” Jared repeated with a laugh. “That’s very generous.”

“I don’t want to do it without you,” Richard told him flatly.

Jared patted his back and said, “You’re a very sweet drunk, aren’t you?”

“Yeah,” he acknowledged. “But, I mean it.”

Jared laughed again and said, “We’ll just see about that in the morning. Let’s get a cab.” 

“I’d feel weird going back to the house with all those guys,” Richard said, leaning on Jared as they walked out. “Can I come to your place?”

Jared looked at him with surprise. “You want to?”

“I’d like to see it,” Richard told him with a smile.

 

When they walked into Jared’s apartment, Richard softly said, “So, this is what you gave up for me.”

“What?” Jared asked.

“Nothing,” Richard said quickly. “It’s just really, really nice.” He took both of Jared’s hands and said, “You have no idea how happy I am that you live here and not in an illegal guest house surrounded by ferrets.”

“...thank you, Richard. That’s sweet,” Jared said.

“You’re sweet,” Richard said, wrapping his arms around him. He tilted his head and said, “I love you.”

Jared blinked.

“I never appreciated it through all the stress and the vomiting but...” He stopped and said, “I’m freaking you out. I keep forgetting this is our first day together in this universe.”

“Mhmm,” Jared said, nodding and rubbing Richard’s back with concern.

“For now, let’s just say we should hang out again,” Richard said.

“Okay. I’m gonna get you a glass of water before you go to sleep,” Jared told him.

 

It was a year later, Richard was at a launch party for Gilfoyle’s company. Jared walked up to him and said, “They have your favorite type of beer.”

Richard smiled as he took the glass from Jared. “Thank you.” He gave Jared a quick kiss. 

“Are you...sad at all?” Jared asked him. 

Richard tilted his head. “Why would I be sad?”

“I just thought that seeing Gilfoyle launch his own start up, be the CEO...it might be making you think of what could’ve been. If you’d decided to start your own thing,” he said. 

Richard laughed and said, “No, no, I’m not at all sad that I’m missing out on all those headaches. I think I let this city convince me I need to feel like a pioneer or, you know, the next Steve Jobs to be happy. Getting to fund other people’s stuff and--” He grinned at Jared. “--getting to be with you, it’s made me so happy. Not everyone needs to be a CEO.” He laughed and said, “Most people probably shouldn’t be.” 

Jared smiled and said, “I’m really glad you’re happy.” He kissed him lovingly. 

“I am,” Richard said. He pulled Jared close, closing his eyes as he thought about how well things had worked out and how lucky he was to have gotten a do-over. “This is perfect,” he said.


End file.
